Covert Kill is a fantastic continuation of the Shadow Strike series, taking the action to Nigeria where the special-ops team is sent to assassinate a terrorist linked to the devastating attack on US soil during the events of the first Shadow Strike book. Jason Kasper dives into the nitty gritty psychological toll of the morally ambiguous rules of war where most of the enemy combatants are barely past their teenage years.
Keeping in line with the spirit of streamlined and grounded narrative, the story takes place prominently in the same geophysical region in a timespan of mere days, evoking a pressing and time-sensitive essence of the events in the story as the team juggles between their primary mission and the morally-just detours to protect innocent souls. The conflicts not only present extraordinarily crafted action sequences that put you in the front row seat for the cinematic-violent exuberance but also highlight the psyches of the leading characters to present them as more complex and intriguing than simple gunslingers in the modern-day Wild West. As aptly worded in the narrative, “a fight not between good and evil but between combatants with various shades of brutality”. The detailed research into field tradecraft as well as the local ambiance of Nigeria create an immersive effect of dialing out everything else except the narrative while you’re reading.
Jason Kasper keeps readers and the characters alike on their toes by shaking things up with Covert Kill. While the Shadow Strike team has proven its efficiency in taking out the enemy with brutal and swift measures time and time again, this time they’re required to step out of their comfort zones with more intelligence-gathering-centric tasks, creating fun opportunities to see the team adapt to the changing circumstances with some smooth and some not-so-smooth outcomes. The unpredictability keeps the narrative exciting and the pages flipping.
Kickass dialogue, spectacular action, and a gripping plot that keeps turning and twisting just when you seem to have it all figured out; these elements make up the core of Covert Kill, creating a fantastic read for thriller fans looking for their next dose of high-octane storytelling.
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